Sound And Music: Pathways

The deadline for this opportunity has now passed

Pathways Programme

Do you write or create your own music? Are you over 18?

If so, are you a UK national? Are you disabled, or from a background other than White British?

My name is Richard Whitelaw and I am Director of Programmes at Sound and Music. We are a national organisation that works with people who create their own music. That work often involves helping music creators to develop themselves and their careers. People who we work with in this way benefit from opportunities and support to develop their work and the chance to become better known to audiences, organisations and other artists. We have recently published some data about the range of artists that are applying for our opportunities. From this data we have learned that:

Very few people from backgrounds other than White British apply to take up the opportunities that we create

Very few disabled people apply take up the opportunities that we create

We have created the Pathways Programme so that we can change these things. We would simply like to work with a broader range of people and we’d like to identify up to 6 artists to work with on this new programme.

The Programme

This programme is focused on your development. It is a coaching and mentoring programme that will then lead to an extended opportunity for you to make new work with a suitable organisation of your choice. Sound and Music has a great deal of experience in setting up and supporting partnership working. We have worked with all sorts of organisations including Southbank Centre, Pitt Rivers Museum, Forestry Commission England, EMS Electronic Music Studios in Stockholm and the British Library Sound Archive. We have also worked with musical groups of various sizes and individual musicians.

July 2016 – February 2017

The first part of the activity involves mentoring and coaching and will last for 6 months. You will meet 3 times with your mentor and 3 times with your coach during that period. If travelling is difficult for you, these sessions can be achieved over Skype or on the phone.

For this part of the programme you will:
Receive financial support
A bursary of £500
Travel and accommodation expenses, if necessary, to meet with your coach and mentor, this can include your coach or Mentor travelling to you if that’s better for you
Receive mentoring support to help with the development of your work

Receive mentoring support to help with the development of your work

Mentoring involves working with and learning from people who have ‘been there and done that’ BEFORE you. They can speak from their experience. They may be able to tell you about the pitfalls, the highlights or the shortcuts that they have experienced along the way and give you guidance as you start to tread your path. They are experienced people that you respect. They listen to you, share their own insights and they advise and support. Sound and Music will work with you to find you a suitable and inspirational mentor.

Work with a professional coach

Your coach will be there to support your own personal and professional development. They will be there to listen to you and to ask you powerful questions that will help you to make progress in your career. Coaching does not need someone to have been there before you; a coach needs to be there FOR you. They need to know how to ask the powerful questions that will help to create the space for you to envision your future and what you want to achieve. Coaching is a confidential process and a coach creates a safe space for you to explore and achieve your goals.

Identify a future partner to work with

This could be a musician, group of musicians or an organisation that you would like to work with. Sound and Music will help you to identify a relationship with a suitable collaborative partner and will support you in this work during Part 2 of the programme (see below)

Attend a sharing and learning day with other artists

This will give you the opportunity to network, share ideas and experiences, and get to

February 2017 onwards

During this part of the programme you will work in collaboration with Sound and Music and your identified partner organisation on the creation of new work over a period of 12 -18 months. You will receive a further bursary and production grant, the size of which will depend on the scale of the involvement of the identified partner organisation. This work will take place as part of Sound and Music’s ongoing and well-established artist residency programmes.